Brittain’s got talent

Sometimes you get lucky. Allan Hitchcock did when he stumbled across a piece of ISDT history

If Royal there’s Enfields one rider in who’s off-road inextricably competition, linked it’s to surely the success Johnny of Brittain. The son of famous all-rounder Vic, he became one of Britain’s most successful ISDT riders ever, with a staggering 13 Gold Medals picked up over the course of 16 consecutive rides in the event – 15 of them for Royal Enfield. And he was a member of the last British team ever to win the ISDT, in Czechoslovakia in 1953. He was a top trials rider, too, scooping a brace of SSDT, British Experts and Scott Trial wins, and during a glittering career was also British trials champ in 1957. It’s well known that one of Johnny’s works Bullets – adorned with his ‘factory’ registration HNP331 – resides in the National Motorcycle Museum. But many of his works ISDT machines seemed to have vanished with little trace. That’s a shame. But not all of them have disappeared... Earlier this year, Allan Hitchcock got the chance to add a couple more Royal Enfields to the collection owned by the family firm, Hitchcocks Motorcycles. “We’re always keen on buying interesting Enfields,” he says. “A friend of mine was helping a friend of his sell a collection and offered the only two Enfields from the collection to me. I was intrigued, as they had consecutive registration, frame and engine numbers, but I had